August 14, 2019 03:36 pm Sheri Porter – Telehealth is becoming increasingly available and popular across the country as it saves time for overstretched clinicians and provides easy access to care for patients. However, one area that’s ripe for exploration is use of this technology with homebound elderly patients.

With that in mind, physicians and researchers affiliated with a home-based primary care program in New York state conducted a telehealth video pilot from June 2018 to December 2018 as part of their ongoing efforts to identify cost-effective ways to provide high-quality long-term care for older adults.

Results of the study were published online ahead of print in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society in a research letter(onlinelibrary.wiley.com) titled “Not Yet Ready for Prime Time: Video Visits in a Home-based Primary Care Program.”

Study coauthor and internist Karen Abrashkin, M.D., medical director for the Northwell Health House Calls program, and her colleagues there, partnered with the West Health Institute in La Jolla, Ca., on this research.

“We are constantly looking at ways to expand our services — expand our footprint — because there is very big unmet need in our community and across the United States for home-based primary care services for frail elderly folks who want to remain in their home,” she told AAFP News.

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